by Amanda Milo
CHAPTER 83
BRAX
I am plodding along, enjoying the sounds of the twins’ mirth so much that I don’t realize Megan has steered us to the control deck, and we’ve even crossed to Lem’s side of the corridor.
I wince when something makes them peal with laughter, and the sound echoes along the hall, bouncing around almost as happily as they can.
I make an abrupt turn and this time, instead of the playful version that makes them giggle, my growl now holds an edge of seriousness that cuts off their shrieked sounds of dismay. “Behave yourselves. You can lead me around by my horns on another level. We leave Lem alone, understood?”
The control room’s door yanks open.
I grimace. “Sorry, Lem.”
His voice sounds strange when he says, “Make them laugh again. Please.”
I’m so startled I don’t react for a moment. My ears slowly creep forward as I look up at him.
Which is odd in of itself. I’ve never looked up at Lem in my life.
I repeat slowly to ensure I’m hearing right. “You want these two to make noise… on purpose?”
He sprouts four eyes so rapidly that my ears snap back in reaction.
The girl’s giggle, and I feel a cold hand catch the tip of one. Simone.
Lem looks over his shoulder, and I see two more eyes erupt from his head. “Again!”
“I can’t make them laugh on cue.”
“Try!”
I twist my head around, careful to keep my horns out of their faces. I arch my back and drop it, bouncing them.
“Good, keep them laughing just like that,” Lem orders. “Brax, the babies… they’re sprouting!”
CHAPTER 84
TAC’MOT
I drop my forehead onto Tara’s shaking shoulder as she muffles a laugh into my skin.
“Kangarooooo!” comes the little voice.
I backed Tara into the maintenance closet, and I thought we’d managed to get in quickly enough that we missed notice.
I see now that with children, there is no missing notice.
“I think I can still perform,” I inform Tara, and part of me at least enjoys watching part of her going up and down even harder.
It’s only that I had desperately hoped to watch all of her going up and down—not to mention harder.
Definitely, definitely do not mention harder.
She sniffles back her laughter, pulling away enough so that I can see her face, and see that she looks almost as crazed as I feel.
“Naptime!” Amy’s voice floats through the door, as do the outraged wails of two power-hungry toddlers.
Tara steps back from me, about to go out and help gather her brood of two, when Grake asks, “Do you have her? Good. Put these in your ears, and hold on to her. Let me try something.” Then he speaks directly at the door. “Tac, cover Tara’s ears.”
He purrs.
The cries of nap-starved, three-heads-tall dictators cease and beautiful silence seems to fill the ship.
“You can take the plugs out now,” he says to Amy. To the door he tells us, “Have fun.”
“Thank you, Grake!” Tara whispers. “You’re awesome!”
I chime in, “I have an unfamiliar overabundance of male affection for you at the moment, Grake.”
He laughs softly. “Maybe you can return the favor by bouncing around our fledglings whenever their dam and I need to get reacquainted.”
“Whoa, there,” Amy says, her incredulous tone carrying her words to us even as they transport the twins to their quarters. “‘Our’ fledglings?”
Epilogue
TARA
Brax has been playful with Mona and Meg, but quiet. Earlier, Gracie took me aside to briefly pass along an idea for a job opportunity if we should need it. But before I could mention it to Brax, Dohrein approached him saying he’d done some digging. The news he revealed was pretty darn shocking.
Before she ‘faded,’ Princess Llywelyn transferred the ownership of all her patents to her heir: Brax.
Dohrein told him that they’ve had solars to earn coin. And now it all belongs to Brax. I assumed he’d want to invest in the other repairs the ship needs, so he shocked me when he brought up the Human Colony.
Brax told me, “With all the males in the colony being bonded, there is no shame in being bonded, not there.”
I’m struggling to process it. “You… you want to settle there?”
Slowly, stare far-off, he nods. “Playmates, education, protection.”
I realize… he’s thinking of the girls. Not himself. I move into his side, inserting myself under his arm.
“It’s isolated and all the rules have changed.” He snorts. “I vowed I’d never go back to that world, but this is an entirely new one.” He raises his chin. “I asked Tac if he’d feel comfortable trying it. There are so many races, there’s unlikely to be the stigma. If he accepts, I’m willing to attempt it. It sounds like it could be ideal for our princesses.” He flicks a glance down at me. “You included. You have made friends among the women.”
“What about your ship?” I ask.
“The Na’riths informed me that if I ever decide to sell this beast, that they would be interested in buying. They’re aware of its condition, but they not only have the funds, they’ve the skills to repair, upgrade.”
“And trick it out,” Beth adds with a grin as she walks by, burping that cute-as-a-button baby girl on her shoulder. “I left the marshmallows with Tac’Mot, by the way.”
Brax sheds his deep contemplation off like a winter coat. He grins at me before banging his tail on the floor to get all the attention. “Princesses! Follow me, and watch me perform an act of skill where many marshmallows will be harmed and masticated.”
Predictably, the girls follow him like puppies even though I’m pretty sure they didn’t catch any of that. Maybe marshmallows. But really, they’d follow Brax anywhere.
And for that matter, so will I.
Epilogue
TAC’MOT
Dohrein’s formula allows Brax and I to be in the same room together and have Tara between us on the same bed and he’s fairly confident he won’t be picking shards of my vertebrae out of his teeth.
It’s all very exciting.
We still separate to different quarters for what Tara refers to as ‘conjugal visits’. With two small children to raise and two mates to satisfy, Tara suggested we set a schedule for evening visits.
It’s all very civilized.
But ‘quickies’ are spontaneous with no rules.
Having hobs around is magical. No struggle at naptime or at nighttime, thus quickies can and do happen with enjoyable frequency.
Brax and I trade off in sire duties, keeping the younglings in line—i.e., being wrapped around tiny toddler fingers.
Seeing firsthand Tara’s heartsache, and then witnessing the joy of her reunion with our offspring, it has made me think often of my own parents. It gives me the courage to reach out to them.
If we can find them.
It’s all potentially overwhelming.
“Pssst!”
I turn to see Tara. She beams at me. “Brax is keeping the royal monsters busy. If I offered you exotic locales like the closet, the B.C.U., or in your bedroom like we’re both adults—would you like to follow me to one of said locales?”
Or it would be overwhelming. If I didn’t have her.
I slide my fingers into the back of her mane, and scritch her scalp in a way that never fails to make her boneless. “Always, veetling. Always.” I pull back from her, grinning. “I’m astounded we get options. Is it just me, or does ‘B.C.U. Sex’ sound…kinky?”
Epilogue
BRAX
“For the recordlog, you make a wicked-rotten second male,” Tac says to me, his lips quirked at he takes ahold of Tara’s braided bracelet, measures it out, and severs the cords with his teeth. He knots the ends and cinches it on my wrist. “There, teveker. All together now.”
“We’ll far
e better as equals anyway,” I glibly inform him.
Tac shakes his head at me. “You ‘vekwit. We were never anything but equals in her hearts.”
“Wow, don’t hurt yourselves being sweet to each other, geez,” Tara laughs. “And the girls are in bed, we don’t have to get up early, so according to the schedule, let’s seeee, which alien ‘wins my attentions’ first tonight…” she says, mimicking Tac’s voice and making him chirrup. She skims the tablet she’s holding. Then she tosses it aside, looks me right in the eyes…
And snaps her fingers.
You’ve reached the end of Tara’s story!
=D Okay! You ready?? There’s lot to cover: there’s trivia below, there’s “I’ve Got a Book Hangover What books/Authors Would You Recommend As A Fix?” recommendations, there are links to the newsletter, and the link to contact me if you’ve got questions or if you want to say hi (*waves*! =) ), but before we get to all of that:
Thanks for reading Won.
And if you get the time to leave a review: THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART for doing this too!!
And most of all, Thanks for being my Fairy Godmother ♥
Amanda
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Some fun trivia!
Why does laughter spur Lem’s offspring to revive?
This part (the reproductive part of Lem) is based on coral. Coral are both sexual and asexual and in natural reef formation it is a massive unit that spreads as it ‘breeds’, adding polyps everywhere.
However, once pulled out of the reef it can be cultured by fragging: cutting a slice off and allowing it to grow on its lonesome. (In reality, most species do AMAZING with this method and reef enthusiasts raise scads of coral, rare coral, that would normally NOT thrive so easily without the tender husbandry of the enthusiast.)
For Lem’s kind—those that are taken or those that leave their family formation—it’s like touch-deprivation but more than that: if formations are made up of tons of close individuals basically jammed on top of each other, little polyps sprouting up everywhere, it’d be loud, crazy, and chaotic and (in theory) happy. The twins reproduce enough of that to provide the environment the wee Lem-frags need to revive & thrive.
…Because Fiction! ;D
I wanted Brax to lament the fact that he didn’t know how to strap the ceremonial blanket in place to make it a proper dress, until he meets Arokh, who grabs Angie and together they demonstrate for him how it is done. It was a cutesy-touching scene that I am not giving up on just yet. (Another fun trivia fact: in real life, there is actually a blanket that can be turned into a dress. It is SOLD for this purpose. It’s like a snuggie dress. I’ve never seen someone actually wearing them - for some strange reason, this fad hasn’t quite caught on yet (Mini note within a note: if the company provided a bonded Rakhii with every dress-blanket, I’d be willing to bet they’d sell GAZILLIONS!))
Tac’Mot is TomCat spelled backwards. It was originally the name for the cat-like alien but I thought readers might groan when they caught that ;D
The Legend of Gelert is a real thing (a real-life legend, that is) but with a wolfhound and a prince.
The story of Gelert & Princess Llywelyn was in this book. I tried it every which way: as a prologue (way too tragic to start off with—I was afraid you would throw your device across the room before you made it to chapter 1), as a companion story/epilogue (HORRIBLE way to end a book, so depressing!), and then I tried to chop it into parts and slip it in during the story. But I really dislike books that do this, because if I’m invested in one storyline, and then I’m forced to switch tracks and you cut me off just when it’s getting GOOD? WHOA NOW.) So it got cut. I think I’ll put it up in the Amanda Milo Facebook group & on the website (someday! One update at a time and I’m only five months behind) for the brave souls who want to know the whole story.
Tac at one point describes his action as “fossicking”. It’s an Australian word, not an alien word. I fell in love with a number of Aussie words that were out-of-this-world original… but I began to grow concerned it could be misconstrued as me poking fun instead of admiring, so to be on the safe side… cut!
Tunable iridescence and reverse countershading in cephalopods and frogs was used for Tac. His mimicry is birdlike. The Myna bird is apparently an invasive species in Australia but they have an incredible gift for speaking that I’m so intrigued with that I had to incorporate it into a story. (i.e. ‘I want to own an aviary of Myna birds now but I can’t so I’ll push my obsession to paper and create an alien instead.’) The Bali Myna (not native to AUS) is my favorite with ice, electric blue and black accents on a snowy plumage. Tac almost ended up that color.
Tac’s penchant for collecting organic ‘clutter’ came about thanks to a school assignment. (Thank you Mr. F!) we were shown videos of studies done with Aboriginal children. Their culture is fascinating. From how they react after they lose a loved one, to their nonverbal communication to their counting—originally, Tac had many traits borrowed from them, but in the end, very little made it into the final versions. The part about seashells and sticks though was from a study where children struggled with tests that tried to gauge their ability to match photos, or reset rearranged painted blocks, etc. But they could recreate setups of natural rocks and sticks to an uncanny degree.
The Cure for Book Hangover? MORE BOOKS! Here be Book Recommendations:
I found out something neat after Stolen & Rescued were published: if you like my ‘voice’/style, you and I probably have similarities in reading tastes. So if you haven’t tried these yet, you might find they’re worth a peek. These authors did not ask me to put in a good word, most of them don’t even know me - I simply have a compulsion to push my favorite books on fellow book lovers ;D
Ruby Dixon EVERYTHING. Her Ice Planet Barbarian Series is a must. If you love Dragon shifters (or if you’ve NEVER TRIED Dragon shifters!) check these out too. I can’t imagine you being disappointed. I really can’t. If you enjoy my books, you’ll love hers: it’s simply a fact. http://amzn.to/2AmqUt8
Kristen Ashley ANYTHING. She’s published about a million amazing books. If you want raw barbarian hotness in a Game of Thrones-esque type world: (Trigger warnings for this one) The Golden Dynasty http://amzn.to/2zz9cph
If you love the communication difficulties when the hero & heroine have a language barrier, you must read Transcendence by Shay Savage. You Must. Sweet, clueless caveman timetravel hotness. The ending is a heartfelt, beautiful HEA but there’s a high probability it will make you cry. http://amzn.to/2y4OXLQ
Another communication difficulty with a SWEET HERO: Ruth’s Bonded by V.C. Lancaster http://amzn.to/2h8cgxB
Major cultural and communication difficulties (has Menage set-up) Venomous by Penelope Fletcher http://amzn.to/2zyaSPN
If you like slow burn romances: Mariana Zapata (try Wall of Winnipeg & Me http://amzn.to/2hdk30F and Kulti! http://amzn.to/2y3smiJ ) and Penny Reid’s Neanderthal Seeks Human http://amzn.to/2zzD4ly
Laurann Dohner - New Species, Cyborgs and more. Difficult to choose, but perhaps my favorites would be book 2 and 3 of the Mating Heat series http://amzn.to/2ixR6sT and http://amzn.to/2zjlAJ7
Rebecca Royce was my first official (awesome!) Reverse Harem http://amzn.to/2zm1Moo
I’ve not gotten to read these yet, but Grace Draven ANYthing has been strongly recommended to me. Specifically, she has a book with a scene with a potato, that—by the way readerscrack up when they mention it—it’s solidified it as fact: I need this story in my life. http://amzn.to/2ziDDx1
Same for R. Lee Smith - her books have been passionately recommended though I was warned they are intense and not your traditional romances so I pass that mini-cautionary note to you also: http://amzn.to/2y3pOkF A sector of readers have developed special hashtags to express their feelings
about certain characters in these books. You cannot imagine the depths of my curiosity after I’ve watched them talk in hashtags about these stories for months now ;D
Anna Carven – readers LOVE these books! I must try them! http://amzn.to/2yxMais
Marina Simcoe’s Demon Mine came so highly recommended I bought it without even reading the blurb. I can’t wait to get to this one. http://amzn.to/2hJys1s
Robot hero! This is the next Tiffany Roberts story I have loaded up on my Kindle: http://amzn.to/2heFYo0
Poppy Rhys has THE CUTEST alien heroes – you can jump in with this one or go back to her first book, The Melier: http://amzn.to/2he2KN9
I enjoyed Tamsin Ley’s Merman’s Kiss & someday, I am going to read her Centaur story. CENTAURS! http://amzn.to/2zh4ZUk
Ripley Proserpina has sweet Reverse Harems and I can sympathize with the heroines, because I wouldn’t limit myself to just one of the sweet, adorable, hot men in her stories either: http://amzn.to/2y2EeRX
I have enjoyed Naomi Lucas’ Shifter Cyborgs (YES! How fun!) and am looking forward to reading her latest with a Shark Cyborg Shifter: http://amzn.to/2hifAtv
This is the next Dark Romance I’ve snapped up: Christine Monroe’s Unbound http://amzn.to/2hIJsfs
Read the blurb for Regine Abel’s Escaping Fate and we’ll see if you don’t one-click it too: http://amzn.to/2AmaOjd
Bethany Aan’s much beloved Hearts of Ishira♥ at http://amzn.to/2y50uL0
The teaser alone for Nancey Cummings’ hot Warlord Aliens almost made me skip work: http://amzn.to/2y3Bd43
